[Electromicrograph of an HIV-infected T-cell via NIAID & CC2.0] “Pitch Imperfect” is a series of blog posts where I highlight stories that I pitched but didn’t quite sell and discuss why it was tough to sell them. The goal is to share both interesting research stories and some of the obstacles in getting them into …

[A screenshot of the webzine Lateral’s home page. The theme of June is Sport.] I am super-psyched to announce that I’m taking on a new part-time gig as editing stories on the history & philosophy of science at an up-and-coming webzine called Lateral. It’s based out of Australia, has monthly themes like Nautilus, and is …

About half a billion people live on fan-shaped floodplains that form where rivers meet the sea. Those plains, called river deltas, share the same fan-like shape the world over. Even after controlling for factors like the size of the river, the slope of the land its channel traverses, and the makeup of the local soil, …

[Image by Ozzy Delaney via Flickr & Creative Commons] Movies. They’re the stuff of fiction, and scientists love to make fun of those darn Hollywood writers. (The Core, anyone?) How dare they abuse and twist the science to hit a plot point? Journalism is supposed to be an emphatic move away from fiction. But I’d argue that …

[Photo of a black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) by Wagon16 via Flickr & Creative Commons] “Pitch Imperfect” is a series of blog posts where I highlight stories that I pitched but didn’t quite sell and discuss why it was tough to sell them. The goal is to share both interesting research stories and …